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Asos has announced it is investing £14m into a new tech hub in Belfast over the next three years as it continues to scale its investment in technology, creating 184 new jobs with eight permanent staff already on board.
As part of the investment, Asos has announced the opening of applications for the second cohort of its Assured Skills Academy in Northern Ireland, funded by the Department for the Economy.
Due to open in early 2022, with a permanent location to be announced, The Department for the Economy is providing funding of almost £1m for the Assured Skills Academies over three years, with the first cohort of 20 participants due to graduate in mid-March 2022, followed by the commencement of the second cohort at the end of April.
The 10-week training programme aims to “equip participants with key technical skills such as programming, business skills, agile and Microsoft Azure and data fundamentals”.
Economy minister Gordon Lyons MLA said: “The development of the new Belfast ‘Tech Hub’ and the creation of over 180 jobs represents a significant investment in Northern Ireland by the company. In return, our talent base will provide ASOS with the high-quality engineering resources it needs to achieve its international growth plans. Once in place, the new jobs will contribute almost £6.5million in additional salaries to the local economy.
“Of the new roles, 130 will participate in my Department’s pre-employment Assured Skills training programme which will offer the company a pipeline of skilled individuals over the next three years.”
He added: “The first academy is currently in training and going very well and the second academy, focusing on Big Data Engineering and being delivered by South Eastern Regional College, is open for applications now. I urge anyone who is interested and eligible to apply for this exciting opportunity.”
Cliff Cohen, chief technology officer, Asos, added: “We’ve been blown away by the level of talent we’ve seen across our Northern Ireland recruitment and in the Assured Skills Academy, reflective of Belfast’s talented and vibrant digital workforce. We’re committed to supporting and fostering that talent as we embark on our next phase of growth and look forward to welcoming our second Assured Skills cohort in the coming months.”
